Lessons Learned at an idea workshop

Just for fun this year at the Catholic Writers' Conference Live, I ran a panel on ideas. Rather than a lecture, I took some questions and we all shared our personal tips on handling ideas, then we did exercises. I'd gone around the exhibitors' floor and picked books at random, writing down the protagonist, the setting and the crisis/object:

13th century cathedral
a thief
a relic

OR

a planet where trees are sentient
a deaf woman
an alien wants to marry her

Then I gave them 15 minutes (later cutting it to 10) for them to write a story synopsis, novel outline or article proposal. The response was phenomenal. Not only did these people come up with different twists on the same three elements, but several of them produced writing that they could do some minimal tweaking to and submit. One person realized she can come up with a complete story progression. Another discovered she had a talent for flash fiction. (Her stuff was amazing!)

I can't claim any credit for teaching them because I did not teach. We shared our ideas about generating ideas, prioritizing when we have too many, and fleshing out ideas. Nonetheless, these simple exercises taught them some valuable lessons:

* Ideas are out there
* You can flesh them out if you concentrate
* It doesn't have to take a lot of time and contemplation
* Sometimes a forced creative flow can produce awesome stuff--you don't always need to "wait for the muse"

I hope the lessons they learned will help you as well.

BTW, thanks to them I have another idea for a DragonEye, PI novel: a thief steals a relic from a 13th century saint and smuggles it across the Gap to Faerie. However, the relic, being from the Faerie St. Dismas, wants to return home. It starts a epidemic in Los Lagos--but only among thieves. I'm thinking of calling it "Dismas-ly Ill"

Everything is Material

Between moving, Rob's surgery (outpatient) and the Catholic planners are due, I don't anticipate much time this week, so I've prepped this ahead of time.

People sometimes ask how authors come up with ideas, so here's a sneak peek at my idea generation in April:

Dentists broke a piece of the drill off in my tooth during a root canal. I wrote a flash fiction about a woman in a similar situation who ends up communicating with aliens through her tooth. Yes, it's called "Bit by Bit."

Asked folks on facebook for a Bible story that expressed self control. Decided on David not killing Saul.

Listening to the song "Ocean Gypsy" by Blackmore's Night, came up with a mystery of a nymph who is brutally murdered and her death causes the entire area to be shrouded in darkness, for a thousand nights or until the killer is found and the area healed.

Friend of mine had to deliver some bad news to another of our friends, who happens to live near NYC. She caught her on a bad day, and got an earful! Telling me about it, she said, "She went New York on me." Writing a scene for Neeta Lyffe, I had some zombies attack a bunch of New Yorkers during a parade. Parade goers got mad and beat them with their own ripped off limbs.

Needed to write a column for Vern, my dragon. Weather's getting nice--car wash time. Decided that's a great way to bathe a dragon.

Rob, the boys and I were playing SuperMunchkin. The cards themselves are a riot--puns and jokes, and combinations designed to incite giggles. Plus, at least with my family, there are plenty of ways to mess with your opponent! I came up with a story of Vern, Sister Grace, Gapman, and Superspy Stan Rakness involved in a cut-throat game involving one of the card combinations we played to really wreck Steven's and Alex's chance at victory.